When people think of Portugal they think of hot weather, great beaches, seafood and wine. They don’t necessarily think of a thriving music scene, but perhaps one day this won’t be the case, because 4 of the 6 stages at NOS Alive Festival were made up of native acts. Impressive stuff, but I wasn’t here for them; I was here for the big ticket acts- The XX, The Weeknd, Foo Fighters and Depeche Mode.

The festival grounds were pretty great. The stages were close enough to each other that you didn’t have miles to walk to catch the next act elsewhere, and there was a fair bit going on besides the music. As for general location, it’s only about 5 train stops outside of Lisbon central- perfect as part of a longer holiday. I hear the campsite has a swimming pool, which I’m a little jealous of…

I’m not too sure how much I can say about a music festival, without this seeming like a review, which I definitely want to avoid- but I had a great time! We drank litres of Heineken, gallons of wine (the white wine sangria was a taste sensation) and danced until the morning came- quite literally, as Glass Animals were on at 2.55 and didn’t finish until 4am.

My highlight of the weekend was, without a doubt, The XX. I love them loads and they didn’t disappoint. Other bands I thoroughly enjoyed included Glass Animals, Foo Fighters and Cage The Elephant.

One noticeable thing about this festival was how nice the people were. At English festivals you get a whole host of knob-end ‘laddish’ types who have no care for anyone but themselves, but the vibe at NOS was way more relaxed and friendly. After doing festivals abroad for the last two years, I’m not overly keen on returning to English ones.

I recommend this festival loads, they always have a great lineup and I can definitely see myself returning in the near future.

One week on, and I’d love to do it all over again. It feels like it was just all a dream…

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